NBC Vanquishes ‘Wonder Woman’

The network passes on the Amazon superheroine's revival by David E. Kelley.

Despite rampant hype and constant attention from the press, David E. Kelley's "Wonder Woman" reboot has crashed before even airing an episode.

According to Entertainment Weekly and several other sources, NBC has officially passed on bringing "Wonder Woman" to series. With the completed pilot in hand, there is a slim chance that the show could find a home somewhere else. But all of the major networks (including NBC) passed on Kelley's initial pilot script before Comcast took over NBC and reconsidered its decision.

Former "Friday Night Lights" star Adrianne Palicki landed the coveted role of Wonder Woman, whom Kelley reenvisioned as a successful CEO moonlighting as a costumed vigilante with no less than three identities. A leaked copy of the early script and Palicki 's first publicly revealed Wonder Woman costume both earned scorn from the comic book fans, but the costume was slightly tweaked and the story was reportedly reworked to make Wonder Woman more assertive (and I would say… "less Ally McBeal").

However, the "Wonder Woman" pilot is rumored to have been poorly received by audiences in test screenings and the network's enthusiasm for the project ultimately cooled off.

Deadline publicly questioned what the failure of "Wonder Woman" may mean for ABC's two Marvel series in development: "The Incredible Hulk" and "AKA Jessica Jones" without fully taking into consideration two key factors. First, Disney owns both ABC and Marvel, so they have a greater incentive to go forward than NBC; which doesn't own "Wonder Woman."

Also, David Eick ("Battlestar Galactica") and Guillermo del Toro ("Hellboy") are probably better fits for "Hulk" than Kelley was for "Wonder Woman." The jury is still out on Melissa Rosenberg ("Twilight") and her take on "AKA Jessica Jones," which did not make it into this pilot season as some had expected.

In other NBC news, the network has picked up the comedy series "Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea," "Free Agents," as well as the dramas "Awake" and "The Playboy Club." Perennial bubble series "Chuck" is also heavily rumored to have received a fifth season pickup.